Note: While this article specifically references this period of Covid-19, these steps are applicable in any period of adversity or hardship.
With a global pandemic, imminent economic downturn, and what feels like an irrevocable change to our personal freedom and life as we’ve known it, it’s no wonder that everything feels doom and gloom. For the last few months, every news station, media outlet, and post on social media has been a flurry of articles, clips, and videos about COVID-19. Today, it seems virtually impossible to flee the C-word plague, however, is there a silver lining to the situation we all face?
Cliches and platitudes aside, what if there were real lessons to be harnessed? How could we utilise this very rare, specific time that we’ve now all got on our hands, to make ourselves stronger now and into the future?
Step 1: Ditch the slump. Reframe your experience
During the first few weeks of lockdown and self-isolation in Australia, I too struggled with the sin of sloth and boredom.
I was lethargic, unmotivated, and sluggish.
I sought a numbing escape through countless hours of Netflix on shows that weren’t even that good (if you’re considering watching Something in the Rain. I would suggest not).
I had an ongoing passion project with a lot that needed to be done, yet I was stalling.
My daily habit of journaling for the past 4 years began to feel like a checklist item.
My extroverted felt suffocated.
It was all downhill until I realised it wasn’t the pandemic or the economic turbulence that was causing me to suffer. I was.
And that’s when it struck. Your intent with life, and how you frame your thoughts and experiences dictates everything.
The small joys we take for granted are now brought to us in a new light as we’ve been forced to reevaluate the very essence of what it means to be alive. It also shifts our perspective on what we are grateful for.
Because we lack clarity, focus, and a sense of what we do have, do we feel restless.
I still had a job and a good source of income.
I was healthy, safe, with a roof over my head, food in my pantry, and ample toilet paper.
My family, friends, and loved ones were safe.
I had access to medical support if I needed.
That’s more than many.
As Indian doctor Dr Jagadish Hiremath put it:
Even if you were in a situation where you didn’t have everything, there is a way to frame your experience with a lens of gratitude. You only remain in a slump if you choose to be. Instead, ask yourself,
“What can I do to make me happy?”
“Who can I connect with today?”
“What’s one thing can I do that will make a difference in my life or the life of someone else?”
“What do I have that makes me grateful?”
There is significant research on the benefits of gratitude, including studies that have found people who express gratitude experience 25% increased happiness compared to those who didn’t. In another study, gratitude is seen as playing an important role in people’s feeling of loneliness and social bonding — something relevant to us now more than ever.
If restlessness and lethargy and the consequences of fear and distraction, then gratitude is the antidote to our ongoing despair.
Step 2: Get back to basics
Extracting yourself from the quicksand of lethargy and reframing your experience is the first step. To fuel your life’s engine you need to do more than simply pour gas into your car. The next step to turning tribulation into triumph is ironically to do less. That is, to simplify.
A. Maintain a routine
“You can choose to run the day, or the day will run you.”
There’s a reason why the late Apple founder Steve Jobs wore the same black turtleneck each day, or former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had the same routine for decades while he served in office.
Routines not only serve as comfort and stability, but they provide a platform for you to do meaningful work. Routines help you conquer the required self-discipline and become the system for mastery.
Through this current period of self-isolation, I have saved myself up to 2 hours of commute time each day, allowing for this time to be absorbed into other valuable activities. My routine looks something like this:
6:00–6:30 am: Wake up and a 15-minute journal
6:45–6:50 am: Begin a 20–35-minute resistance workout
7:30–8:00 am: A plyometrics circuit or weight training
From 8–9:00 am I usually shower, have breakfast and logon for the day. Where possible I try to minimise or streamline my Zoom meetings and not have anything scheduled from 12–1:00 pm lunchtime or after 4:00 pm.
From 4:00 pm, I will either go for a long 6km walk or read. I’m onto my fourth book since being in isolation and it is a time of stillness I look forward to.
5:00–6:00pm: Dinner
7:30 pm: Talk to friends and family via FaceTime or Whatsapp
8–8:30 pm: Begin some creative work either writing or working on my site
10:30 pm: Journal and go to bed
Undoubtedly there will be outliers to your routine of various days. Sometimes I may find myself engrossed in a vicious YouTube cycle late into the night. The key to this regimen is not rigidness — but to clearly understand your non-negotiables and give flexibility to everything else. My non-negotiables are:
- Physical activity
- Education through reading or podcasts
- A creative outlet and meaningful work
- Reflection
Determine what’s important to you, whether it be productivity or a creative outlet, and craft the rest of your day around this.
B. Exercise minimalism
I’ve never more in touch with my inner Marie Kondo. What decluttering and cleaning initially started off as a solution to boredom, has now ended up being a decluttering of the soul and mind. The Buddhists refer to this detachment of physical belongings and the notion of ‘emptying your cup’ — which in turn, allows for more to enter your life.
The benefit of clearing your physical and mental space is that it creates stillness. Having more also generates a sense of fear. The more we have, the more we have to lose. But by having less, you also begin to realise how little you need to begin with.
Another benefit of minimalism is it allows us to have a break. I haven’t purchased ‘stuff’ for the sake of purchasing it, giving my finances a little more wriggle room. This time has also given me the opportunity to spend more time with myself. I’ve gained more confidence in my bare face, without the need of being done up all the time. While I take great pride and joy in presenting myself well to the world as a reflection of my inner being, I’ve also discovered my inner being is kick ass the way it is. Also, what for? Zoom washes you out anyway.
For you, it might be reassessing luxuries like this comment I came across.
Getting back to the basics of minimalism is understanding that you don’t need a lot, and can do more with less. Memories and experiences are worth more than possessions. Being minimalist also means you’re considerate and leaving enough for others. It’s about evaluating what and who is truly important to you. The essentials.
Step 3: Invest in your mind. Pursue creative work.
Whenever there is a major catastrophe, people can generally be grouped into three categories. Those that get lost in nihilism and despair, those that seek escape in every outlet possible, and those that capitalise on the opportunity to turn misfortune into greatness.
From what I’ve observed, most people around me fall into the second category. I wasn’t immune to the route of escapism too and still can fall short from time to time.
Life is fragile. However, how you experience it, as mentioned in step 1, is up to you. According to author essayist and statistician Nassim Taleb, there are certain things that when faced with adversity, can become antifragile. Something is antifragile when it can “benefit from shocks, and thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty.” Not only can we resist misfortune with resilience, as antifragile people, but we can also gain from these external stressors.
When I first decided that I was not going to remain in a slump, my first outlet was to read prolifically. I’ve been fortunate enough that my curiosity and abundance of amazing books has allowed me to learn through reading.
What reading has reminded me is that while it’s great to consume knowledge, wisdom is only born through intentional action. As The Motivation Manifesto author Brendon Burchard said, “the brave know that to win, they must first begin.”
As such, the second part of investing in your mind is to supercharge your life through the pursuit of creative work. Passion is developed. For me, this involved long-form blogging after a significant amount of time off. It was also working towards my new site and looking for ways to edit my content and amplify my speaking platform.
There’s no doubt that many people have suffered and faced hardship with this health pandemic and economic downturn. If you’re sceptical that everything is too hard, just know that the 2008–2010 financial crisis gave birth to these household names:
- Whatsapp, 2009
- Groupon, 2008
- Instagram, 2010
- Uber, 2009
- Pinterest, 2010
- Slack, 2009
- Square, 2009
Who would have thought that any of these global companies would’ve been born over the last decade amidst a global financial crisis?
There are always opportunities to tap in to. The question is what will you choose? Will you become antifragile and do the work?
Step 4: Energise your body
It’s easy to feel an incredible sense of cabin fever when many of our personal liberties are currently restricted. One way to overcome the mental cloudiness is to get physically active in any way possible.
While many gyms, sports centres, and parks now closed, one resource that we seemingly have more access to is time.
As 4 Hour Body titan Tim Ferriss puts it, “The decent method you follow is better than the perfect method you quit.” In short, kill the excuses and get physical.
There is a tonne of resources and content online for you to get active. Seeing the impending shortage of supplies a few months ago, I acquired a number of weights, resistance bands, and barbells/dumbbells before everything sold out. Some of the workouts I’ve been enjoying are:
- SWEAT plyometric circuits
- Les Mills Body Pump On Demand
- YouTube abs and glutes challenges
- My own mixes of HIIT circuits with multiple rounds
Even if you don’t have any gym equipment, there are a lot of free workouts you can find on Instagram or YouTube. Many of them require little or no equipment. If you don’t have the specific weight or piece of equipment stipulated by a certain workout, you can always safely substitute it with something from your household.
If local regulations allow you to do so, go for a run or do a routine in the park with a friend. There are always options.
Besides killing time, there are many metabolic benefits of exercising your body. Research suggests that exercise, particularly in the early hours of the day significantly aids our brain’s performance. One of these benefits include increased growth factors that support your brain in learning and making new neural connections.
Furthermore, moving your body regularly produces endorphins and neurochemicals which aid in our mental health. I always feel a sense of accomplishment and joy after a good workout. As Everything is F*cked author Mark Manson says, “Pain is a universal constant”, and when we do something that causes us pain, in the case of working out, we get stronger because of it.
You don’t get motivated and then work out, you work out and in turn get more motivation. Your motivation comes as you get stronger, leaner, more defined. As the weight drops off and muscle builds. Motivation is a loop reinforced by action, positive validation, and consistency. While many drop off before any results are achieved, you can make strides of improvement by keeping at it.
Your body and mind will thank you for it.
Step 5: Pursue active rest
I’ve been thoroughly impressed by the sheer number of posts shared online over the last two months showing amazing recipes, crocheting and macrame, as well as paintings and finished puzzles. While we’re restricted in many facets of life, it’s interesting that our creativity sprouts through other outlets.
The pursuit of active rest gives us a break and allows our creativity to flourish. Leisure is the freedom we have away from work where we can seek flow in any focused activity that brings joy.
Note, the big difference between leisure and hours on Netflix is the intent. While there is nothing wrong with watching a good show on TV, the problem exists when the opportunity cost of doing such activity comes in the form of procrastination or something else that would enrich our lives.
With fewer options available to us today, we have increased opportunities to do more with the time we have. And this very act of seeking leisure brings us a level of calm and balance. As entrepreneur and best-selling author Ryan Holiday puts it, “Stillness is inner peace. To act without frenzy. To hear what needs to be heard. To possess quietude in the exterior and interior.”
Some forms of leisure I have been pursuing are:
- Minor home improvements such as lights, drawers, and fixtures, allowing me to declutter and tidy up
- Reading
- Long walks
- Cooking and the replication of various beverages (yes, I jumped on the Dalgona train and have made every variation you can think of!)
While it’s easy for us to slip into the second category of people during a catastrophe, it’s also possible for us to tip the other end of the spectrum and be too hard on ourselves.
“I should be doing more”
“I should be learning X”
“I should be…”
The key here is should. What are you doing instead, and what’s keeping you from turning ‘should’ into ‘am’? Frame leisure as the time to exercise the different side of your brain, gain clarity and create the mental space to relax and reset your focus on creative work.
Step 6: Review the new norm
Slowly and steadily, countries are beginning to reach the turning point where the active spread of the virus is slowing down and physical distancing restrictions are being eased.
Before we jump back into the rhythm of our daily lives post the C-word, now is the perfect time to pause and reflect: What elements of the ‘norm’ do we want to return to? What elements of our new routines should we incorporate on an ongoing basis?
It’s not about sticking inflexibly to your new routine, or simply reverting back to the old, but finding a middle ground, where both coalesce together.
For me, these new norms include:
- No meetings 12:00 pm-1:00 pm and 4:00 pm-5:00 pm (as endorsed by my office team)
- Prioritising plyometric workouts 3x a week, with daily blasts on areas that align to my fitness goals
- Exercising the stronger muscle of saying ‘no’ to more things, actually feeling JOMO and being ‘ok’ with not doing/being at/having something
- Carving out specific time to pursue meaningful work, leisure, and rest
- Be grateful and OK with less
While the world’s health slowly improves, and we learn many scientific and economic lessons from this time, we can also create small ripples of change by what we think and how we live our lives.
If we are pragmatic with our intent, align ourselves with work that matters, and take care of our bodies, together we can get through these challenges and come out stronger and better than before. No matter how difficult the situation, there is always a silver lining. The only thing that matters is, what will you do?
